What Did They Say?: Observations from Eighth-Grade Students

By Todd Sherman

Nearly ten years into his teaching career, Todd Sherman affirmed that no matter our age, we all have moments when our mouths don’t sync with our thoughts. While teaching language arts to eighth graders in August 2007, he overheard a student blurt, “Floyd is not a first name.” After the quote gave Sherman pause, he and the students decided to begin logging their hilarious sayings on the whiteboard. He recorded the comments, and soon “Quote of the Day” became a staple in his classroom.

In an entertaining collection that includes many of the stories behind the quotes, Sherman shares over six hundred outlandish comments of his students organized into thirteen categories: Geography, Food, Animals, School, Sports, Anatomy, Color, Time, Punctuation/Spelling, The Dark Side, Captain Obvious, Mea Culpa (his quotes), and Miscellaneous (what’s left). Quotes include, “I was in New York for like two days yesterday,” “Raisins are basically grandma grapes,” “I did the homework in my head,” “I always thought Santa watched me through the air vent when I got changed,” and much more.

What Did They Say? shares more than six hundred hilarious comments from eighth-graders and the stories behind them catalogued by their teacher for thirteen years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9798823019316

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© 2024 Todd Sherman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/26/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1930-9 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1931-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023924276

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 How Quote Of The Day Began

Chapter 2 Geography

Chapter 3 Food

Chapter 4 Animals

Chapter 5 School/education

Chapter 6 Sports

Chapter 7 Anatomy

Chapter 8 Colors

Chapter 9 Time/history

Chapter 10 Grammar/punctuation/spelling

Chapter 11 The dark side

Chapter 12 Captain obvious

Chapter 13 Mea culpa

Chapter 14 What’s left

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I’d like to thank the many people who helped (in any way) with this book. First, I’d like to thank Dr. Chris Goldberg, author of Aliyah and the STEMsational Problem Solvers: What’s Cooking? and a longtime friend who inspired me to write this book; Joe Zagorski, a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a published author who acknowledged me in his first book The NFL in the 1970’s – I’m returning the favor; my old reporting partner Frank Donnelly, who sat next to me at The Mercury in Pottstown, Pa., for several years and urged me to keep writing after he read a chapter; Judith Peterson, who chuckled her way through the first draft; my wife Molly, my daughter Kate, and my son Michael, who read/edited for me; Chelsea Watts, a former student who read the chapter her quote was in and found a typo; and Christopher Vickers and Brianna Gould, who read/edited the sports chapter.

I’d also like to thank Buddy Chapel, a former teaching cohort and Marine who inspired me every day; Lori Spatz, a good friend who taught across the hallway from me for years; and every teacher I ever worked with at Daniel Boone Middle School. Thanks for being wonderful friends and colleagues.

I’d like to also thank my good friend Darren Mastrangelo, who hauled me hours to ozone treatments to help my MS every few weeks.

I’d like to thank all of my students for making my classroom feel like a home for more than two decades, but there are a few I must mention.

To Kati Kiehl, Jill Kauffman, and Daniela Zarrilli: You are all married now, but way back in early 2002 you were just kids. The three of you visited me in my hospital room after I was diagnosed with MS. It was an act of courage and kindness I’ve never forgotten, and I’ll always remember. I’m forever grateful.

To Kelly Detweiler (now Choate): I wouldn’t have made it through the 2004-2005 school year if it were not for you. I do not know if I was having trouble with the MS, or the MS meds, but I just wasn’t running at optimum capacity. Starting one task while working on another one was just one of many symptoms. My mind would wander. Someone had to step in, and you did. You took care of me.

Kelly, you would stand behind me and say, Mr. Sherman, just get it done. It got me through the year, and I would remember that to the extent that years after Quote of the Day began, I put your quote on my wall. I can never thank you enough.

And I’m so proud that you became a teacher. I’ll bet all the kids are ecstatic when they are assigned Mrs. Choate for the school year.

Image1.JPG

Kelly’s original quote on my wall.

To Molly, Kate, and Michael for your love and support all these years.

Chapter 1

How Quote Of The Day Began

Nearly 10 years into my teaching career, an idea came to me. And like most of the good ideas I had during my 23 years in public education, it was kid-inspired. I taught eighth-grade language arts my entire time in the classroom, and so my daily audience for more than two decades was 13- and 14-year-olds. One day, a student said something – it was in August of 2007, on one of the first days of that school year – during the course of the class or a beginning-of-the-year discussion among kids and myself. The quote was certainly something that gave us all pause, so to speak. It was the first quote on the list, but I can’t be sure that was the genesis of Quote of the Day.

Learning the punctuation of quotes was a part of the curriculum, and I was comfortable enough a few years into my career to not only change things up but focus on certain aspects of punctuation and vocabulary throughout the year. So, knowing that eighth graders were on the cusp of becoming adults but still kids, they would say things that were – to adults and their classmates – nonsensical or just plain silly. They didn’t mean to. We all have our moments when our mouths don’t sync up with our thoughts. The result is usually hilarious. When it occurred, students would go to the whiteboard and write (and punctuate correctly, of course) their quote after they said it and we all agreed it should go on the board. There could be more than one Quote of the Day (or on the board), or there could be none, depending on the particular day.

I kept track of the quotes, and at the end of the year, I’d either print out copies for the class (I always placed all five sections of students together) or email them the file containing the quotes. Some years ended with a lot of quotes on the list (the most prolific year was 88 in 2017-2018; the least was 18 in 2020-2021), and some years had just a few. For some reason, I didn’t record any in 2008-2009. Students always had to give their consent to make the board. I never embarrassed a student; in fact, students considered it a badge of honor to have their quote and name on the whiteboard. After it became popular, students would make up quotes in an attempt to make the board. Their classmates usually gave them up even before I had a chance to sniff out the deception.

Thirteen years and more than 600 quotes later, Quote of the Day had become a staple in my classroom. Incoming students each year would ask about the quotes and make sure that the practice would continue. They could see quotes from previous years displayed in the classroom. Their ultimate goal each year was to make my front wall even though they wouldn’t be there to see their genius the next year. At the end of each school year I would choose two quotes, (in later years I had students vote on their favorites), enhance the quotes’ size, and place them on an eight-by-11 piece of paper to be laminated and then hung in the classroom. After a few years, the entire wall above my desk in the front of the room was dedicated to quotes from students. When I retired, the front of my room was covered in quotes, and that made me proud because it reminded me what teaching is all about – the kids – and that I was a teacher who was able to focus on my kids instead of only focusing on the subject.

And so, what you are about to read are hilarious lapses of reason that were actually said by students or me – I was by no means immune to slips of logic, and believe me, students always called me on